Friends  Kid Style
by Dreamer012
Summary: Different characters, different setting, different situations...same lines. Please review!
1. The One Where It All Began

**Disclaimer: I only own the characters; none of the script (except the minor modifications).**

Looking in on The Boozer (named so by the kids as the only place where underagers could buy cheap alcohol) that Saturday, you would see six kids, all wearing jet-black T-shirts proclaiming them: 'THE GANG' in silver glitter calligraphy, though you could really only see 'E GA' and half of the N peeping out of their partially unzipped leather jackets. A red-headed girl (Joanna) and a golden-eyed boy (Oscar) were sprawled against each other on a sofa, a beautiful black girl (Molly) and an attractive Asian boy (Felix) were sitting curled up at opposite ends of a couch, and a blond boy (Chris) and a gorgeous guy (James) were lounging around in separate chairs. They had obviously been chatting for a while when Joanna launched the next sentence.

'There's nothing to tell! He's just my lab partner.'

'C'mon, you're going out with the guy!' interrupted Felix. 'There's gotta be something wrong with him!"

'Alright Lex, be nice,' soothed Dave patronizingly. Joanna nodded gratefully at him. 'So does he wear white? White and goggle glasses?'

Molly hit him. 'Wait, does he fancy Mrs Bimbo?'

The others looked at her bemusedly. Mrs Bimbin was blue-eyed, blond-haired, and wore slutty outfits. She was also a substitute teacher – and completely dense.

Molly shrugged. 'Just, 'cause, I don't want her to go through what I went through with Ray in Year 8.' They all made noises of sympathy. 'It's OK, he got over it.'

'Okay, everybody relax,' pacified Joanna. 'This is not even a date. He is helping me with my homework.'

There was a silence heavy with unsaid sarcasm. Eventually, Dave supplied it. 'Sounds like a date to me.'

Joanna hastily changed the subject. 'OK. Weird dreams anyone?'

Dave stuck his hand up. 'Oooh, I had one!'

Joanna glared at him. 'A'right, shoot.'

Dave settled down; always good for a gossip or a retelling. 'OK, so I'm onstage right? And I realize that I'm naked.'

'Oh yeah.'

'Very common.'

'Uh-huh. Then I look down, and I see that there's a mike…there.'

'WHAT?' yelled Oscar, before remembering that they were in a public place. 'Oh, right.'

'All of a sudden, the mike starts to send out static.'

'Oh God, then what?' Joanna was forgetting her annoyance at Dave; this stuff was gold.

'Then I picked it up…'

'Yeah…'

'And I started singing 'I Gotta Feeling' by the Black-Eyed Peas!' he burst out.

'No!'

''Fraid so,' he admitted.

Chris cleared his throat pointedly, and Joanna immediately turned to him. 'Oh sorry honey; you were saying?'

'I just feel like someone reached down my throat, grabbed my small intestine, pulled it out of my mouth and tied it around my neck...'

'Cookie?' offered Felix.

Molly cleared her throat. 'Miss Heart didn't say Deniz's name in the register today.'

'Ah,' Oscar voiced.

'Here, let me get you some water,' Molly offered; Chris didn't drink.

'Thanks.'

Dave started to rake his fingers through Chris's tangled hair, making noises of annoyance.

Chris jerked away. 'Dave, I don't need you to 'groom' me, I'm fine. Leave my hair alone.' Dave left off and Chris carefully began teasing his hair back into its normal tousled spikes.

Dave folded his arms crossly. 'Fine. Look a mess.'

'I'll be fine alright?' he stressed. 'Really guys, I hope she has fun in Hollywood.'

'No you don't,' stated Molly.

'That's true,' he agreed.

'And you never knew she had a famous mother?'

'No!' he shouted. 'She never told me! What, was I supposed to _sense_ that her mother was recording albums in Soho while we were kissing?"

'Sometimes I wish I could sense stuff like that,' commented Oscar. 'That'd be cool.'

'Alright, Chris,' Felix put in. 'You're feeling a lot of pain right now. You're angry. You're hurting. Can I tell you what the answer is?'

Chris indicated permission.

'Sixth Form Common room!' announced Felix. 'Come on; hot girls gagging for it!'

'You're disgusting,' Molly informed him.

'I don't want that,' Chris drooped. 'I just wanna have a girlfriend again!'

BANG.

A girl entered. At first glance, all you could think was…WOW. She was beautiful. Not beautiful in the traditional sense of the word per-say, but radically, wonderfully radiant. Her haze-blue eyes were thickly outlined in a kohl which Molly recognised as 'Velvet of the Night', a product she had thought was only on sale in New York City, having bought some on her annual trip their that summer (her parents were American), and she wore a dress that barely cleared her thighs, patterned solidly with swirls and flowers, an exact copy of the item that Joanna had seen on display in a store in France last Easter. She was probably quite petite, but she was tottering on enormously high heels (James guessed them at £150 from a high-rise department store in England), which suggested that she was a little uncomfortable with this clear fact, and her hair was…wow. Bright, sun-blonde, and tousled almost to the extent of bed-head, but somehow deliberate in its messiness. Molly fingered her own dead-straight, crimson tresses, and wondered whether Diana had got hers styled in the Caribbean. It looked like the type that had once been dreadlocks. She approached the bar, looking around hopefully.

'And I just want tolerance!' added Dave, flinging his arm out expectantly.

'Diana?' exclaimed Joanna.

'Jo, hi!' she cried. 'I've been looking all _o_ver for you!'

'Hey!' Joanna greeted her. 'Guys, this is Diana. Our younger sisters were friends back in England, and then I moved to America and we lost touch. Di, these are my friends, Chris, Felix, Molly, Dave…and you remember Oscar?'

'Hi everybody!' Diana tilted her head playfully. 'Hey, did I land in a showing of 'Pretty People'?'

'She's like that,' Joanna whispered loudly. 'You get used to it.'

'So why are you here?' interrupted Chris, eager for a chance to prove himself.

'Oh, my parents wanted to move back near my aunt, and I just said 'great, that's where Joanna lives!'

'Uh-huh,' replied Chris, fascinated.

Back at Molly and Felix's house (they weren't siblings, but her Mum and his Dad were married), they were waiting for Joanna's date to appear, as she had told him to come round to their place.

RING!

Oscar ran for the door and flung it open. A geeky-looking boy with huge glasses and a stack of books clutched to his chest stood on the doorstep.

'Er…hi,' he greeted Oscar nervously. 'I'm Sid.'

'Who's Sid?' muttered Diana.

'_That'_s Sid?' exclaimed Felix. 'The guy who always has his posters of Bunsen Burners pinned up? _What were you thinking?' _he hissed at Joanna.

'Be quiet, he's sweet,' she retorted. Then she noticed Diana, looking a little left out. 'Oh, Di, if you want to be shown around…I can stay…'

'No, no!' insisted Diana. 'You go; have fun!'

'Thank you!' squealed Joanna. Grabbing her coat, she waltzed out of the door, leaving the others bewildered in her wake.

'So, Diana,' Chris attempted conversation. 'What're you up to tonight?'

Diana shrugged. 'I had set up a date with a guy back home, but I don't think that's possible now, so…nothing!'

'Oh yeah, sorry about that.'

'Ah, he wasn't that nice,' she assured him.

'Yeah, well, it's not that bad; I mean, England, this time of year, talk about your' – he looked hard at the floor – 'mad dogs…anyway, if you don't feel like being alone, the boys are coming for a homework gathering.'

'Yes, and we're _very_ excited about it,' interrupted Felix.

Diana smiled at him. 'Well actually thanks, but I think I'm just gonna crash my sister's birthday party. You know, I haven't seen her for a while.'

'Oh, sure!' agreed Chris. 'You have fun!'

'Hey Molly, you wanna come?' invited Oscar.

'Oh, I wish I could, but I don't want to,' Molly told him bitingly.

He nodded in an 'I understand' way.

Later, tucked away in Chris's room, the boys were getting started on their DT homework, assigned art equipment spread all over the floor.

Chris squatted in the middle, reading from a pamphlet of instructions. 'I'm supposed to attach a wooden pole to the seat with a bunch of these tiny screws.' He paused, as if the answer would come out of the air. 'I have no wooden pole, I see no tiny screws – and I cannot feel my legs,' he finished.

'I think we've got a desk here,' Felix informed him from across the room.

'It's a beautiful thing,' Dave commented.

Felix uncovered an extra part from beneath the carpet. 'What's this?'

Oscar examined it interestedly. 'I would have to say that is a wooden pole.'

'Which goes where?' inquired Dave.

'I have…no idea,' was the carefully thought-out reply.

After a quick glance to ensure that Chris wasn't looking, he chucked it out of the half-open window. 'Done with the bookcase!' he announced.

'All finished!' Oscar agreed.

Chris barely heard, having uncovered a jacket from under his bed. 'This was Deniz's,' he informed them. 'She wore it all the time.'

'Hey-hey-hey-hey!' interrupted Felix. 'If you're gonna start with that stuff, we're outta here.'

'Yes, please don't spoil all this fun,' Oscar voiced cynically.

'Ross, let me ask you a question,' offered Dave. 'She got the class ring, the joint carving from the tree, and that coat you took turns wearing…what did you get?'

Chris hesitated. 'You guys.'

'Oh God.'

'You got screwed.'

'Oh my God!'

'Oh my God!'

'I know, I know, I'm such an idiot,' concurred Sid, picking at his French fries companionably. 'I guess I should have caught on when she started going to Math Clinic six times a week. Who else apart from Harry even _takes_ Saturdays?'

'My brother's going through that right now; he's such a mess,' Joanna told him. 'How did you get through it?'

'Well, you might try accidentally losing something of hers, say her –'

' – new boyfriend's phone number?' suggested Joanna.

'That's actually a good idea!' Sid assured her. 'Me, I went for her Maths homework.'

'You took her Maths homework!' Joanna was very impressed; Miss Cole was widely renowned as the 'demon math teacher'. 'The worst thing I ever did was, I snitched on Joe when he pulled my hair.'

Sid nodded genially, obviously humouring her. 'Er, great!'

Joanna nudged him playfully. 'So what's this date entail?'

Sid grinned. 'What do you want it to entail?'

Joanna shuffled her chair away tactfully. 'Sid, you're nice and all, but I really think –'

Sid grabbed the answer sheet. 'One kiss for the homework.'

'Does that actually work?' asked Joanna incredulously.

'It's my first time. Up to you to prove it,' he challenged.

'I've been dumped!' repeated Chris for the fourth time. 'In a relationship for three years and now I'm dumped!'

Felix put his head in his hands. 'Shut up!'

'You must stop!' stressed Dave, hitting the chair Chris had been labouring over with the palm of his hand, collapsing it immediately.

Chris gave the pile of wood a long, hard look. 'That only took me an hour.'

Oscar grabbed his wrist. 'Look, Chris, you gotta understand, between us we haven't had a relationship that lasted longer than a snog by the lockers. _You,_ however, have had the love of a beautiful girl for three years, at the end of which she ripped your heart out, and _that _is why we don't do it!' Chris stared at him. 'I don't think that was my point!'

'It's just hard,' drooped Chris. 'I was so in love with her, you know?'

'Chris,' Felix said, through gritted teeth. 'You are fourteen. This is ridiculous. GET OVER DENIZ, ALREADY!'

'Y'know, here's the thing,' Chris carried on dreamily as if he hadn't heard. 'Even if I could get it together enough to ask someone else out…who am I gonna ask?'

He gazed wistfully out of the window, little knowing that, on the other side of the block, Diana was doing exactly the same thing.

The next day at school, the boys, Molly and Diana were having lunch at their custom table in the cafeteria. Joanna had not yet showed up.

'OK, I'll see you,' her familiar voice reached their ears, and they turned to see her breaking away from what had evidently been a loooong kiss with Sid.

'Hi guys.' Diana winked suggestively.

'_Shut up,'_ Joanna mouthed half-angrily back. 'Thanks Sid.' She smiled at Sid before taking her seat with the others. Sid walked away reluctantly, turning to wave at her before leaving the canteen.

'That wasn't a real date!' Felix burst out. 'What the Hell do you do on a real date?'

Joanna smiled tolerantly. 'Shut up, and give me my Ribena.'

'Okayyy!' Felix handed it back quickly.

'All right kids,' Oscar stood hastily, 'I gotta get to the club. If I don't learn those buttons…' he went quiet temporarily. 'It doesn't make much of a difference.'

Diana put down her forkful of spaghetti. 'So, you guys all do clubs?'

'Yeah,' Molly replied slowly. 'See that's how we make friends.'

Dave smiled at Diana. 'Yeah, I do Drama.'

'Wow!' Diana looked a little overwhelmed. 'And these are compulsory.'

Molly shrugged. 'Doesn't say so in the application form…but yeah.'

'So in Drama,' Diana addressed Dave. 'Do you put on any plays in public?'

'Uh-uh,' Dave notified her, deadpan.

Everyone else left, only Joanna and Diana remaining.

'Well, wish me luck!' Diana announced, standing.

'What for?' Joanna called.

Diana beamed optimistically. 'I'm gonna go join a club.'

Joanna was having a great time in her Creative Writing Club – which she mostly used to chat to Ellie, scribbling a couple of pages in the last five minutes of break.

'So how was the movie?' Joanna enquired brightly.

Ellie analyzed her. 'You snogged someone, didn't you?'

Joanna's jaw dropped. 'How do you do that?'

Ellie shook her head disbelievingly. 'Oh, I hate you. I'm watching Emma Watson trying to save Rupert Granger from a Chimera, and you're snogging someone?' Joanna didn't answer 'So? Who?'

'You know Sid?'

Ellie's eyes widened. 'Sid, the Bunsen Burner guy? Oh yeah, I know Sid.'

Joanna was starting to get suspicious. 'You mean you know Sid like I know Sid?'

'Are you kidding me?' she asked rhetorically. 'I take credit for Sid. Y'know, he got the idea for the whole 'Maths homework' thing from me?'

'Of course it was a line!' yelled Felix, a little too loudly, considering that they were back in the Boozer.

'Why?' cried Joanna. 'Why? Why would anybody do something like that?'

Dave gave her a look. 'I assume we're looking for an answer more sophisticated than: 'to get some'.

Joanna threw her hands in the air. 'I hate boys! I hate boys! 'Cept you, Ozzie,' she added. 'Is it me,' she continued. 'Is it like I have some sort of beacon that only cats and creeps can hear?'

Molly rubbed her hand soothingly in circles on her back. 'There, there.'

Joanna was nearly in tears. 'I just thought he was nice, y'know?'

There was a sad silence – before Felix burst out laughing. 'I can't believe you didn't know it was a line!'

Joanna pushed him so hard that he toppled right off the arm of the sofa.

The news had just finished, and it was time for the children to go to their separate houses, having hung out at Molly and Felix's after The Boozer had closed.

Molly turned off the TV. 'Well that's it.' She looked at Chris, already half-asleep, fondly. 'Wanna stay overnight? I'll call your parents.'

Chris shook his head. 'No. Gotta face Mum sometime.'

Joanna patted his head. 'You be OK?'

He nodded dozily. 'Mmm.'

'Hey, Jo?' Diana held up a flat, green book. 'What's Sid's Maths book doing here?'

Joanna smiled. 'Give it here, I'll take care of it.'

She took the book and then trooped into the bathroom, where, a minute later, they heard a flush. She returned, her hands vacant.

Molly gave her a thumbs-up. 'Good call, Jo.'

'Thanks.'

Oscar glanced at Chris and Diana, cosily squashed up on the same sofa, taking in the situation. 'Guys; wanna get a drink?'

The others instantly took off before Chris and Diana could get a chance to follow them – or even notice they were gone.

Diana sighed, and nestled her head into the crook of Chris's neck. 'This is nice.'

Suddenly aware of the position, Chris felt himself start to get very hot. 'Um…yeah.' He started breathing a little heavier than usual, hoping he wasn't about to have a heart attack.

'You know, I saw you in a magazine once,' Diana remarked. 'Something about being a singer's daughter's boyfriend?'

'Oh yeah, that'd be Kiera and Deniz,' confirmed Chris. 'So?'

Diana wriggled a little, getting a bit more comfortable. 'I thought you looked really cute.'

Without meaning to, Chris cringed away.

'What?'

'Look,' he confronted her. 'I really like you. So…when we're settled in a bit more…do you think I could ask you out?

She beamed beatifically. 'Sure. Go nuts.'

Smiling at her, Chris got up and made his way over to the door. Once outside, he nearly bumped into the babysitter, really only there to cook and bring Molly and Felix cool CDs. 'What's up with you, Demure?'

Chris cocked his head thoughtfully. 'I just grabbed a lifeline.'

She looked at him as though he were insane. 'Whatever, kid.'


	2. The One Where Keira Comes Back

CHAPTER TWO

THE ONE WHERE KEIRA COMES BACK

That day in The Boozer, a major conversation was going down between the gang.

'What you guys don't understand is, for us,' explained Molly, 'sweet-talk is as important as any part of it.'

Felix scoffed. 'Yeah right!' The girls glared at him. 'Wait, y'serious?'

'Oh yeah!' Joanna rejoined.

Diana clapped her hands. 'Everything you need to know is in that first line.'

'Absolutely!'

Chris winced consideringly. 'Yeah, I think for us, sweet-talk is just an opening act, y'know? I mean, it's like sitting through the sponsors before the band comes out to play.'

Oscar nodded. 'Yeah, and it's not that we don't like the sponsers, it's just that… that's not why we bought the ticket. Think Boyzone, 2009.'

They 'aah'ed knowingly.

'The problem is though,' continued Felix, 'after the concert's over, no matter how great the show was, you girls are always looking for the sponsors again, y'know? I mean, we're on the tube, we're beating off moochers…basically just trying to stay awake.'

'See, you're OK,' Chris informed Dave. 'You're gay; everyone feels the same.'

Dave's face fell in irritation. 'I like the sponsors. Mark doesn't.'

'Yeah, well, word of advice,' Molly advised the others. 'Bring back the sponsors. Otherwise next time, you're gonna find yourself sitting at home, listening to their album _alone.'_

There was a pause.

'Are…are we still talking about relationships?' requested Dave.

Chris was at gym club, where the activity that day was climbing. Having heard this, his friend (from certain sports) Luke had joined him. They gazed up at the climbing wall nervously.

'Doesn't that look a bit more dangerous than last time?' asked Chris anxiously.

'Oh don't be stupid,' snorted Luke. 'Looks like fun!'

Chris swallowed. 'Mmm-huh.'

Luke gazed at him. 'Dude; you OK?'

Chris grabbed hold of a helmet cautiously. 'The person who invented rock-climbing must have issues. Scaling jagged cliff-faces where there is every chance one might fall to one's death? _Please.'_

'Hey, talking of issues…Isn't that Kiera on the radio?'

Chris very deliberately jammed the helmet over his ears so he could miss the last bars of 'Stars Are Overrated' – but not what the announcer read out next. 'And as we all know; Kiera has come back to Manhattan for a visit – and is even staying in her old house!'

Chris let go of the rope and crashed to the gymmats below. The last thing he thought was: _What are the odds?_

Once at Oscar's apartment, which he shared with his Dad, the gang settled down to watch an old rerun of _The Simpsons._

'Baaaaart!' roared Homer onscreen, his mouth taking up more than half of his great yellow face.

'Oh, wait,' announced Felix. 'I think this is the episode of _Simpsons_ where Homer strangles Bart.'

'Oh, then I've already seen this one,' dismissed Molly, turning off the TV.

'Ew!' exclaimed Diana, looking out of the window. 'Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!'

'What is it?' Joanna called concernedly.

'Some guy in the flat across is screwing someone on the carpet!'

Oscar didn't bother to look up. 'Yep; Will's always going at it.'

'In broad daylight!' Dave didn't actually look too shocked. 'How does he get away with it?'

'Oh, I _know!'_ disrupted Felix. 'I have _got _to ask him that one day!'

Chris entered. 'Hey.'

'Wow. What happened?' asked Molly.

'I'm just surprised,' he answered. 'Kiera's back in town.'

'What?' gasped Oscar.

'Yeah, it was a bit of a shock,' verified Chris.

'Kinda puts the whole 'homophobic' thing in perspective, huh Dave?' Felix addressed.

'No!' protested Dave.

'So…are you gonna do anything about it?' queried Joanna.

'Well, I'm not sure if I should,' he replied. 'Kiera never liked me and – what if Deniz isn't there?'

'I think you should go,' retorted Oscar.

'Yeah, she's having an autograph signing tomorrow,' Dave informed them. 'Want us to go with you?'

'No, I'll manage.' But he thanked them anyway.

Molly checked her watch and then looked up, wide-eyed. 'Oh God, my Mum and Lex's Dad are dropping round this afternoon! Everyone, SCRAM!'

There was a scared hush.

'Don't look so surprised, GET OUT!' yelled Felix.

Felix and Molly sat stiffly, while their parents poured out tea.

'Have you been hanging out with Dave Davis again?' their mother asked irritably. 'You know I don't approve of his…choices.'

Molly pulled a face. 'Mum, he's gay. And he happens to be very sweet and considerate.'

'He's too young to be completely sure,' their Dad pointed out.

Felix raised an eyebrow. 'Dad, he's fourteen. He can't get much surer.'

'How's Mona treating you, then?' enquired their Mum.

Molly shrugged. 'S'all good.'

'You don't need us to dock her pay or –'

'Mum!'

'Well sweetie we want you to be perfectly safe. I'm sorry we can't be home more often but –'

'They're too busy screwing each other in their country house,' Felix hissed at Molly.

'Shut up,' she advised. Then, slightly louder. 'So what's up with you guys?'

Their Mum immediately lit up as they moved on to the subject she loved the most in the world: herself. 'Well you won't believe what happened the other day: I bumped into Arthur!'

Molly groaned, and Felix automatically moved to put an arm around her shoulders. Molly had told him everything as they grew up together and he knew all about how he'd tried to feel her up in the car park on an outing. Then his face spasmed into a grin when he remembered her graphic description of how she'd kneed him where the Sun didn't shine.

Of course he'd ripped his face off and stuck it on backwards the very next day but that was purely for Felix's own peace of mind: Molly had always been able to look after herself.

Felix changed the subject before Molly's Mum could start going on about 'young love' and her disappointment that Molly was 'still single'. 'Um…Diana's back in town.'

Molly could have kicked him but it was her own fault – he didn't know the history between her and Diana's mother.

Their Mum shuddered delicately. 'And I am to understand that you are…seeing her?'

'Well I'm not a lesbian if that's what you're thinking,' Molly replied, purely to annoy. She knew how her mother felt about 'lazy girls'.

'_Darling!' _she exclaimed, affronted. 'You know how I feel about those lazy girls. Simply _can't _be bothered to discipline themselves to the level a man expects' – she patted her tightly curled hair, surgically plumped lips pursing – 'so they find another lazy girl and live in sin.'

'Mum, you don't even go to Church,' Felix pointed out. 'And how come you don't call Dave a lazy boy?'

'_Darling! _Being gay and being' – whispered – 'a _lesbian _are two completely different things. With men it's simply experimentation; they just want to be difficult and make themselves seem more attractive and mysterious to women.'

Felix leaned surreptitiously closer to Molly. 'At least they've forgotten about Diana.'

But he spoke too soon and Molly's mother was back on the scent like a bloodhound. 'So. She's back.'

'Yes _mother, _she's back, and I'll thank you to be polite to her,' Molly hissed. 'I know you think her mother's a rich bitch but hey, it takes one to know one.'

She sat back, scowling, and for a few minutes the air was so heavy with tension that it caught like dust in Felix's throat.

'Well!' Their Mum clapped her hands in false cheer. 'This was lovely my darlings and we shall get together again as soon as we can. Now, _anything _you need; money, clothes, more help…you have the maid's number, yes?'

Felix and Molly didn't reply; they didn't trust themselves to open their mouths.

'Lovely!' she beamed. 'Goodbye my beauties! Richard, say goodbye!'

Their Dad gave Molly a smacking kiss on each cheek – and then thumped Felix so hard on the back that he nearly fell face-flat on the floor. 'See you around, kids.'

_Not if we see you first._

Needing to cool off after that little episode, Molly and Felix linked arms and ambled over to the Boozer. Their friends must have remembered that they were always depressed after meeting up with their parents and they were all gathered around – they had even dragged Diana along.

'Hey,' Joanna greeted them sympathetically, holding her hands out to Molly. 'Was it painful? Did anyone cry?'

Molly rolled her eyes. 'Anyone would think you enjoyed this.' But she let herself be folded into Joanna's arms and for a moment she allowed herself to relax.

'Tea?' Diana offered. 'Water?'

'No I'm OK –' Molly noticed the apron. 'Um…something you wanna tell us?'

'I couldn't stand moping around all the time,' Diana said briskly. 'Who cares if my boyfriend just dumped me, my friends are bitching about me on Facebook and I just got mugged? I got a Saturday job!'

By this time the others were flinching back a little. There was quite a fierce look in her eyes.

'Maybe I could get one too,' Chris mused.

'_You _have an appointment next Saturday,' Dave reminded him, tapping him on the nose. He withdrew his hand quickly. 'And you're about to break out.' He produced a pot of cream out of nowhere. 'Here, take this. Mark gets freebies from his Mum and I hate this brand.'

Chris nodded – and then promptly gave it to Diana, whose hand was already stretched out. 'Aw thanks Chris, I haven't moisturized in _days! _Dad hasn't unpacked my stuff yet,' she explained at Dave's horrified face. Then she took a decko at her watch. 'Whoops, time to go guys, I need to lock up.'

They all gave her a kiss before they left and Diana was smiling slightly when the doors shut.

Chris stayed. He'd been trance-like all afternoon. Thinking about Deniz.

'Hey,' Diana murmured, touching his shoulder. 'Are you OK?'

To his astonishment Chris felt tears in his eyes. 'Yeah, sure,' he gulped.

Diana gave him a hug and Chris relaxed so much that he nearly hit the ground. 'Thanks.'

Diana sighed and let him go. 'I feel so stupid.'

'Oh yeah, your boyfriend…' Chris felt like an idiot. 'I'm sorry.'

'God, we're hopeless,' Diana grinned, although her eyelashes were damp with emotion. 'Aren't we?'

It was almost like she wanted assurance that she was right so Chris agreed. 'Yeah. We are.'

They sat on the arm of the couch together and, for want of anything better to do, simply watched the sun set across the grimy sky of their neighbourhood.

The week had gone by way too quickly and as Chris stood in front of Keira's house he felt slightly sick. Getting past the paps had almost killed him but he was here and he was hale and he was himself.

Oh who was he kidding?

He turned to leave…

'Chris?'

Damnit all what had happened to his sanity? For a moment that had sounded like Deniz.

But it was only Keira. Keira, the spitting image of her daughter, a face that had made her famous, far more than her heavily autotuned voice.

Why hadn't Chris noticed it before? His best friend's mother…was beautiful.

That was when Chris started to cry.

More quickly than he'd thought possible, Keira had his arm and was hustling him inside.

Shutting the door behind them.


End file.
